I attended the Singapore Guppy 2007 competition to check things out and was surprised to see that the competition was carried out together with the National Discus competition and the Betta Competition.

I am not complaining here as I was expecting just the Guppy competition but lo and behold, I was greeted with some of the most beautiful Discus and Bettas that I have ever seen. I have gone into Discus breeding before and I am still interested in the Discus scene. I have kept Turquoise, Cobalt, Pigeon breeds, Snakeskins, Leopard Snakeskins and other types of Discus when I was really into them. Discus breeding and keeping in my opinion is similar to guppy keeping and guppy breeding but with a few more challenges, especially when it comes to water quality. Guppies are more forgiving when it comes to water quality but when it comes to the King of tropical fishes, you better know your stuff about water chemistry and how to treat the water to your Discus requirements. You wouldn’t want any dead Discus in your tanks I assure you.

Anyway, in this post,I am just gonna talk about the guppies. I see that the Guppies that were being shown were mainly strains that if I could recognise correctly are of Taiwan origins but of course had been bred by our local Singapore Guppy breeders. As such, most of the strains being shown are the Red laces, Blue Grass, Moscows, Half Black Whites and Full Red Guppies. I might be wrong here as some of these guppies could have been imported from other countries as well, such as the States and countries nearer to Singapore such as Thailand.

I think that Singapore breeders are into the above strains at the moment. Here are some of the pictures that I took.

It was rare but I did see however some Guppies that were clearly of local origin such as the Half Black Yellow Leopards. But that was also in the pair category. My hope is that Singapore breeders will start breeding and creating new strains of guppies that would continue to mesmerize and appeal to guppy breeders like me. In fact, in the past, Singapore Guppy breeders were well known for their ability to keep on producing new strains. Well,lets just hope that there will be a continuance in that area soon.

Personally, I love doing outcrossings and testing out the various genes by crossing unrelated guppies and also by looking hard for the weird but beautiful mutant guppy that may appear time to time.

Nevertheless, this year’s competition was a success and I enjoyed myself tremendously looking at the Guppies that were on show. I also met Helven Saw from the Malaysian Guppy club and found out that he was a judge for the competition. I would say that he is truly a guppy enthusiast to the core and I feel honoured to have met him.

Not forgetting also Shirley who was there looking after the exhibits. She is always ready to lend a helping hand when it comes to guppies and the club would definitely feel different if she is not around.

Congratulations to all the guppy breeders that got a prize for that competition. I hope to see you guys in the next competition with your new and improved strains.